Dreadful Radio Game

A college couple living outside the campus; the girl was cooked, sliced into thousands of pieces and dumped everywhere in the school, and the boy was nailed on a chair and cut open, with all his organs and guts rigged out and his stomach re-filled with condoms filled with water.

That was extremely miserable and beyond common murder. Unlike the usual revengeful murder, this one was very close to some religious rite.

When walking away with Su Bai, Liu He kept covering his chest with his hand for almost all the way back. Apparently, that image had been too striking for him.

Su Bai seemed to be better than him; after all, his mentality was stronger.

However, all of a sudden, he thought of the surveillance cameras Chu Zhao had mentioned before. To avoid all the cameras and dump a large amount of body pieces in the school, was that possible for a human?

Just at this moment, Su Bai’s cell phone rang.

“Liu He, you go back to the dorm, okay? I’ll catch up with you later, ” Su Bai said to Liu He and then went towards the BBQ joint near the school gate.

“Yep, it’s me. Why call me in the middle of the night?”

“I heard what happened in your school. Tut,” Aroma seemed to be drying her hair with an electric hair drier on the other side of the phone call, and she was on speaker, so Su Bai could hear an obvious buzz.

“You always hear everything.” Su Bai got to the BBQ; looking at the baked meat his throat moved. It seemed to be a bad time for BBQ. “Boss, I’ll have two beers, and cook some vegetable for me too. But no meat.”

“Ha ha, what, even you’re affected? Honestly, if the method were not so creepy, I would consider it to be your own work in your school, you lunatic killer.”

Su Bai faked a smile and sat by a small table.

“I’m not that lunatic yet and I won’t turn on my classmates without a reason.”

“As you said, it’s only because you haven’t become lunatic enough by now. I’m telling you that if your mental illness goes on, you’re not far from becoming a serial killer.”

“Seems that I already am.”

“At least none of those people we killed in the club was decent.”

“Why do we sound like the Powerpuff Girls[1], or Sailor Moon[2] shouting ‘destroy you in the name of the moon’.”

“Ha ha, similar. In fact, we are no different from those who are into illegal car races, only, we’re playing something more bold and more exciting. Alright, I’ll cut to the chase, you know what happened to me?”

“Chu Zhao told me. You’re going to the Chinese Embassy in Britain.”

“Yeah, that’s boring. I was trying to convince my dad to send me to Somalia or Syria in the Middle East or some other places like that, but my mom was weeping and my dad was crashing glasses… So, Britain it is.”

“A girl should concentrate on a normal life.”

“When I’m gone, the club won’t last long, right?”

“Sort of. You know why Gu Fan joined this club; he won’t be playing once you’re gone.”

“I have nothing to do with him.”

“That sounds like you have something to do with me.”

“Come on, you shameless. I can do better than falling in love with some lunatic killer. It’s gonna be sad but romantic if you get so sick in the future that you may kill your wife.”

After a short pause, Aroma’s voice turned serious: “No kidding, Su Bai. I want to find you a hospital when I get to Britain; you can get cured there.”

“Your beer and BBQ.” The BBQ joint owner served Su Bai.

“Thank you,” Su Bai said to the owner. Then he picked up the beer and poured it down his throat directly from the bottle without pouring it into a glass.

“As far as I’m concerned, your illness can’t go on like this. Now we’re just doing something trivial, and those we killed were trash of the society, and our noble families can cover for us even if something goes wrong, but how about the future? What if you really… I’m not worrying about myself, I’m concerned about you. You may actually destroy your life and your family.”

“I know.” Su Bai took another sip of beer.

Su Bai was quite aware of his own issue. He also knew that his mental illness would become out of control in the future. In fact, he was more suitable for being a mercenary in some foreign country. But that would be difficult due to his renown family; besides, Chinese were not very popular in the mercenary market; and Su Bai was aware of his own capability— as a fan of free sparring and an amateur of weapons, he was capable of winning some screams and hurrahs among the little gathering of “princes” and “princesses”, but he would get himself killed real soon if he was to make a living on that. He was still too immature.

“Then I’ll look for a hospital and reach out to you when I find one. I will need your approval, because it’s your own business.”

“Okay, fine. I can get a chance for exchanging study in Britain when you find a proper hospital. Shouldn’t be too hard.”

“Well, it can’t be better.” Aroma finished drying her hair, laid on her bed and made a sound out of comfort, “by the way, where’s your girlfriend? Have you mentioned that there was a girl in your school who was really into you, and you have had dinner with her?”

“Haven’t been in touch for quite a while.” Su Bai answered.

“That does not sound like being in love. You just ignore girls.”

“As you said, my illness… I’d better not destroy other girls.”

Just at that time, out of the corner of his eyes, Su Bai saw two men walking from the opposite, one of whom was leading a dog. The dog was entirely black, not very big, but had something special that was different from ordinary dogs, at least it had no interest in the remaining of meat under the table. The dog looked vigorous and poised to fight, and the man leading it was strong and doughty wearing a military camouflage shirt.

The other guy was thinner; he could not be very old, but he was wearing a pair of sunglasses in such a dark night, which was a little… funny.

These two people also sat by a table in the BBQ joint.

“What? What’s going on?” Aroma was sensitive; she could sense a lot of things from the change of Su Bai’s breath.

“Nothing, nothing at all. Okay, you should have some rest. Thank you for helping me.”

“You’re welcome. Okay, you take care of yourself. I’ve read some latest news and there might be someone more creepy and lunatic than you hiding somewhere near your school.”

“Okay.”

Su Bai answered and hung up.

But deep down in his mind, Su Bai was thinking: was it really a murderer? Or, was all this committed by human?

Silently drinking his beer, Su Bai was peeping at those guys who came in earlier. Somehow, he could sense something odd from them.

And these two people were sitting here as if they were waiting for something to happen, too serious and too solemn for a midnight snack after a walk.

At this moment, that small black dog ran to Su Bai and started to run around him.

Su Bai, who was never scared even when killing someone, had suddenly felt extremely uneasy when the small black dog was staring at him.

“Come back.”

The camouflage guy shouted; the small black dog took another deep look at Su Bai before it ran back to its master.

The sunglasses guy murmured something to the camouflage guy; the latter nodded and looked at Su Bai with a meaningful look.

Su Bai put the money on the table, stood up and got ready to leave.

When he passed the table of the camouflage and the sunglasses, that small black dog showed its teeth to Su Bai and seemed to be very fierce. Usually small dogs were threatening in manner but cowardly at heart, but this one had a strong threat that no one could ignore.

The sunglasses guy lifted his bottle of beer in his hand: “You’re leaving?”

That was said to Su Bai.

Su Bai was a little surprised. Was that a greeting? They didn’t know each other, and there was no reason for a greeting. But he just nodded slightly.

“Yeah, I’m going back to school.”

But the camouflage guy just hummed: “I suggest you stay for a little longer.”

Then the sunglasses guy shook his head towards the camouflage guy; then they continued drinking and eating facing each other.

Su Bai hesitated. But he still chose to went across the road and into the school.

Seeing Su Bai walking away, the camouflage guy smiled: “Why stop me? Usually there would be an award if a newbie is saved.”

The sunglasses guy sighed, “No need for that. He’s got a sense of killing on him, even your Black had smelt it. He’s not an ordinary newbie, at least not an ordinary person. Keeping him before the story starts will cause meaningless conflict; besides, I don’t think he would die easily. We’ll just find him when the right time comes.”

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FOOTNOTES:

[1] The Powerpuff Girls: It is an American animated television series created by animator Craig McCracken for Cartoon Network. The girls are frequently called upon by the town’s childlike and naive mayor to help fight nearby criminals using their powers. —Wikipedia

[2] Sailor Moon: Sailor Moon is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi. The series follows the adventures of a young schoolgirl, she leads a diverse group of Sailor Guardians as they battle against villains. —Wikipedia